As communication headsets have evolved, the trend is for manufacturers to make the headsets smaller while attempting to increase performance, comfort, and ease of use.
There are many small, high-performance headsets available to today's consumer, but many of these small headsets do not rest both stably and comfortably on the user's head, with the receiver of the headset reliably acoustically coupled to the user's ear. In addition, many headsets are not comfortable enough for the user to wear when the headset is temporarily not in use (e.g., between incoming telephone calls when the user is a switchboard operator). In particular, to better hear, between calls, what is happening in the room or to converse with another person, it is not unusual for a user to remove the receiver from his or her ear. Conventionally, this requires the user to completely remove the headset from his or her head. Then, when the headset is again required (e.g., to answer a new incoming telephone call), the user must once again don the headset.